So, Japan is warning NK that it might shoot down the rocket NK plans to use to put a satellite in orbit for the first time.

It strikes me as odd that there would be any legal justification for doing so, especially if the rocket does it's ascent stage in NK airspace.

What missile would Japan use to try and intercept this rocket if they do decide to go ahead? Has Japan taken delivery of SM3s?

Does anyone know where the NK rocket launch site is? And more specifically, how close is it to the coast?

Personally, I think this is just political posturing, and that Japan would never do such a thing.

The risk and consequences would be just too great. Japan would really struggle to justify intercepting the rocket if it violated NK airspace in order to do so, but if they waited until the rocket was outside of NK airspace, well it would either be in space (which again would be extremely hard to justify shooting it down since space is neutral and everyone's satellites pass over everyone else in space) or it would be so high that there would be a high risk that falling debris will hit Japan, which would be an own goal of monumental proportions if that happened.

It strikes me as odd that there would be any legal justification for doing so, especially if the rocket does it's ascent stage in NK airspace.

Given how dodgy North Korean missile technology is, if it comes anywhere near Japan I think Tokyo could argue that it's better to be safe than sorry, rather than see it (in part or whole) coming crashing down on someone's house or a school.

The risk and consequences would be just too great.

I don't think anyone would speak out on behalf of "no-mates Pyongyang" if Japan did shoot the missile down.

Given how dodgy North Korean missile technology is, if it comes anywhere near Japan I think Tokyo could argue that it's better to be safe than sorry, rather than see it (in part or whole) coming crashing down on someone's house or a school.

I don't think anyone would speak out on behalf of "no-mates Pyongyang" if Japan did shoot the missile down.

Given that there is no such thing as 100% reliability, does this mean it is okay for Western satellites to be shot down as well? For example, a few months ago, a German satellite could have potentially crashed right into Beijing. Perhaps China should be safe than sorry, rather than seeing satellites (in part of whole) come crashing down on someone's house or school.

This is all fuss as we more or less all know, but currently the western world (Japan & S.K included) have an upper hand that "legally", UN (yes, UN) during the Clinton administration, put up a ban on N.K, that prevents it from "luanching any thing with / related to blastic missile TECHNOLOGY" - which pretty much banned the right of sapce exploration of N.K.

One thing I don't get it, when the rest of world claims they leaning on "get in some touch with the new leader of NK, see if anything might changes", and the facts that this time, the NK appeals (instead of outright ignores the "imperialists world") to the international communittes with a somewhat civiled manner, that they are doing civilian space exploration instead of BM tests - shows the new leadership dose want to play a little nicer. Yet a "nothing changes" attitude we can see for the rest of the world.

Like Engineer indicated at #3, showing muscle in the name of righteousness, can go both ways.

A cold war common enemy suits many people's political agenda I presume?

he will shot down North Korean rocket or any debris from the rocket, if it passes over Japanese territory. Concerns have arisen that a failed launch or a dysfunctional part of the rocket could cause it to crash over Japan, possibly endangering lives

North Korea's test-launch of two short-range missiles this week has raised anxiety levels in the region, as the regime in Pyongyang prepares to defy international opinion with the launch next month of a long-range rocket, which many believe is connected to its ballistic missile programme.

South Korean defence officials said that North Korea had launched two surface-to-ship missiles from a site on its west coast early on Wednesday, a day after world leaders attending a nuclear security summit in Seoul urged the regime to cancel the rocket launch and return to six-party nuclear talks.

North Korea insists that the forthcoming launch, which is expected around 15 April to coincide with the centenary of the birth of the country's founder Kim Il-sung, is designed to put an observation satellite into orbit.

The US, South Korea and Japan, however, say it would be a violation of UN security council resolutions banning North Korea from missile activity, as the same technology could be developed for use in multistage missiles, including those capable of hitting the US mainland.

It has been said that past N.Korean launches' trajectories weren't overpass Japan islands, but south of them, thus this time Japan announced they stations Patriot missiles on Okinawa is in fact not in response to N.Korea, but something else entirely, primary against China.

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